Stage Is Musical Heaven

Dream Lineup Gives Earthly Due To Dylan

NEW YORK — Neil Young and Tom Petty were nose to nose, shouting the chorus of ``My Back Pages`` into the same microphone. A few feet away, so were Roger McGuinn and the song`s author, Bob Dylan.

``I was so much older then, I`m younger than that now.``

Next to them, George Harrison added another layer of harmony and Eric Clapton took care of the lead guitar.

Then as Dylan rasped ``Knockin` on Heaven`s Door,`` with everyone from Lou Reed to Chrissie Hynde singing backup, Clapton and Young sent clusters of guitar notes spiraling into the rafters.

This wasn`t some future vision of Rock `n` Roll Heaven, but of rock history in the making.

On Friday at Madison Square Garden, a cross section of musicians from the rock, folk, country and soul ranks paid tribute to Dylan on the 30th anniversary of his first record.

Ironically the concert devoted to Dylan`s groundbreaking songs may be best remembered for one that wasn`t performed.

Sinead O`Connor, a staunch critic of the Vatican who recently tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on national television, was supposed to sing Dylan`s ``I Believe in You`` but was booed off the stage.

Before departing in tears, she shouted out the words to Bob Marley`s civil rights anthem ``War.``

Perhaps even stranger was that no performer subequently mentioned the incident, and their silence dampened the evening`s musical triumphs.

Which is a shame, because the last non-charity concert to rival this one for sheer spectacle was The Band`s ``Last Waltz`` 16 years ago in San Francisco.

There were a number of subpar performances-George Thorogood`s desultory

John Mellencamp`s band gave ``Like a Rolling Stone`` a gospel kick, and the O`Jays went one better with a sanctified ``Emotionally Yours,`` one of the few latter-day songs performed.

A number of performances acknowledged Dylan`s debt to and reinvention of the blues, from John Hammond`s acoustic ``See That My Grave is Kept Clean`` to Clapton`s lacerating ``Don`t Think Twice, It`s All Right.``

Dylan`s folk legacy got a nod from the Clancy Brothers on a robust ``When the Ship Comes In`` and Tracy Chapman (``The Times They Are A-Changin` ``).

Country got its due when Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Rosanne Cash and Shawn Colvin glided through ``You Ain`t Goin` Nowhere.``

One of the few performers who shared Dylan`s gift for nuanced phrasing was Stevie Wonder, who reinvented ``Blowin` in the Wind`` as a deeply moving soul meditation.

Young chased the muse of Jimi Hendrix on a shattering ``All Along the Watchtower`` and Petty, bandmate Howie Epstein and McGuinn made ``Mr. Tambourine Man`` shimmer.

It was nearly anti-climactic when Dylan finally appeared, but his ``It`s Alright Ma (I`m Only Bleeding)``-with its assertion that ``even the president of the United States sometimes must have to stand naked``-brought the biggest cheers.